Friday, October 29, 2010

The price of being "mean" in 1871

1871 Newspaper Article

"The Pittsfield Mass., Eagle has unearthed the mean man of that village. He is 50 years old, worth $15,000, has driven all his four boys away from home by his stinginess and general cussedness, and when one of them was fatally hurt lately, refused to bring him home. When his wife did bring him, he refused both admission to the house and turned his only daughter out of doors beside, because she went to visit her dying brother. She then bought a trunk, into which she packed her few clothes and went to another town, to a relative's. The old man found she had not paid for the trunk, and did so out of his own pocket, and then sent an officer to the town where she was to attach the trunk and bring it to Pittsfield. If the devil don't get such a man as that, what is the use of having any devil? - Springfield Republican"